Variety (Jan 1949)

34 BADIO-TELK VISION WrdnaiAafy January 12, 1949 Admiral's 2-W8b Spread Continued from p^ce n ; provide both webs with a separate cable, Kudner and Admiral Radio will decide wliich of the webs is to handle the show exclusively. "Revue;" which is to originate from NBC's recently-acquired International theatre, N. Y., will be one of the highest-budgeted yet aired. Permanent cast comprises' Sid Caesar. Mary McCarty, Imo- gene Cocft, the Mfirge and Gower Champion dance team, Bobby Van;, Estelle Loring and Ronnie Cun-| ningham. Show will have a perma- \ nent stock company, complete with ' its own technical: and administra- tive staffs for all phases of produc-, tion; as well as a permanent ballet company. Liebman, noted for de- velopin? such personalities as Dan- I ny Kaye, Jules Munshin, Betty Gar Albuquerque, Syracuse, MinneapO' lis-St. Paul, Memphis, Louisville, I lasting "name" appeal for that New' Orleans, Fort Worth and [time when the consumer becomes Houston. Thus, the show will be | more selective in his TV purchases, seen in every city with a TV sta- Capehart price cuts range from $50 tion,',..:.. duc« and sell the projected 2,000,- 000; sets planned fot 1049. According to Capehart's Nicho- las, much industry research and production streamlining is being directed towards producing better 1 nbC's plan to rebuild its Sunday sets for less money to establish; powerhouse, and the spleen would Crosby Continued from page 21 costs <*f nfetw6rk television "sftpw^^ will keep ; piany adv^rtlstsrS; in radio;. Also .the ■ igenferat (ioWnbeat of talent costs will: add" to. radio's rett, Jerome Robbins and others taltang points.' during the time he conducted the ■ For example, at Music Corp. of summer theatre at Tamiment, Pa., America, highest-priced package on be ■ vented; tin those; desejrteir(>. Jack Benny and; Ainos^^^'^^^^ AniSy. ''''■/MPS' TtvtiifjHtiiM i to $200, made possible through I economies effected by plant con-1 <>*;tb« Mpot on radio" if bi» solidatibn and producUfth ;expan-'fW up. lie's, in IS'ion.' :..v., ■. ■, Abrams.- iii introducing;, Emer- I jpn;'s new. 16-irich .dit'etit ;vifew con- [sDlft which is set to retail at;) $599,50i; based his predictiori . of;, I highei' prices on the public's de-' I mand for large-screen sets. While It's also figured that the lower some lower prices might prevail in cost-per-listener in radio as against 1 present 10-inch sets, he said, video, will appeal to the more con- j the greatest Interest will be in the servative sponsors. The still high ^^^'Scv screen models. Talent Agencies Continued from page 1 aj and advertisers will be open fresh shows. TV Costs Still High for there for 13 weeks, on probation, that is. Crosby, it is said, doesn't like the idea at all of giving battle to Benny. . • No one in the know is. writing oil Paley's Hollywood visit as a social just because he's bringing alqng the missus,, recently accolad- Tele Chatter Continued Iiom page 26 ; AFRA Continues Strike Ys: Atlanta's WATL As GovL Mediators Move In Atlanta, Jan. ij. Strike of members of American Federatior of Radio Artists em. ployed by WATL, 5kw Atlanta iZ die, operated by Atlanta Broadcast- ing Co., entered 12th day today (Tues.) with both sides adamant ■ Walkout came Dee. 31 at 5 a.m' and station was off the air for nine hours, hut has managed to (joii-' tinue to operate without serviced' ot the strikers, five announcers and one music librarian, and eight en- gineers, who are respedting picket lines.'. Ed Schlesinger, national rep of AFRA, is here and handlin;:; in- terests of strikers.. He says APRA's Conlon's Rhythmaires, , 'Program will sha)^im~'wTltiHg-TclTOre--on--the-Ust-is_theJoan JDavls sho_w, L'^jH have film inserts. l.M ics and sketches with Mel Tolkin being offered at around $10,000. CBS clicke'riiig "with Joshua and Lucille Kallen. Liebman has Several years ago. Miss Davis was Shelley to return to New York for' P'etely social j packaged at $1'7,500. The "Let's \ « live video series based on "The' ■ 1^"if "i" 'irnL'S i Wizard of Oz".. Harold Nebenzal.j guest spots . will retail around , \oi j « ' $7,500 and a Tony Martin show is sw ; of producep Seymour ( set nekt $6,500. Agency has also Nebenzal, organized ;West, Coiast prepared shows around : Jerry Co- j Productiohs' With/"Jwri?i^ ionna. Vera Vague and Dorothy i and Albert Jaeger to inake Vidfilms Shay. Otiiers ^n the MCA pros- i„ which IVIiss Gurtright will star pectus include Judy Holliday, play ed as; the best dressed woman in America. True it is that there'll be many functions staged in their behalf but those are for the after-i . „i„„^i , ..u iir«r(,r ■ j dark hours. The Jack Bennys are 1^2" iq2« ^'^^7*^^"^""''*', tossing a soiree Jan. 15 for the \?*?' ''"'.^ ,^°"f t» Paleys that'll bring out the to^vn's n?8ot>ate a new one Prior to ex- creme de la creme, and many a deal p'^ation He states that in the lat. will start with a handshake. The ! P^'"' °* December an agree, guest list will bulk large with radio I ^'.^^ reached with station names and the MCA lads will be ownership on all contract condi- ' ■ tions and terms, but owner, J; w out .in force. The temptation will w^„j„..ff c„ be-too overpoweriniM«^go_€Om-J!^°?f-"?' - ?^ meinl * Kused^ to Sign.-Walkout Viewing Habit Test Admiral Radio's use of the combined DuMont and NBC networks for its forthcoming Friday night "Broadway Revue" is expected to provide an adequate measurement of viewing haliits in those cities in which the webs each have'. outlets. While the network duplica- tion procedure is expected to boost the ratings of the show, it will also determine which of the two webs' viewers will tune to for the same program. Only similar situation has been for pooled broadcasts of special events,-, which have usually • been carried by all stations in ; every: city, but the Admiral show, marks the first time a sponsored entertainmenfe pro- gram h£is been duplicated in this way, . ABC-TV Continued from page 27 ; ing lead in "My Sister Eileen," and "I Free the Innocent'' with'a male filmster pencilled in for the lead. MCA has also , prepared a soap- opera,''Riverside Drive." Other agencies are similarly packaging shows at budgets, con- siderably lower than that of last year: .' • ... . Generally, it's been found that the higher-priced names are more cooperative this season regarding price, which has been a consider-, able factor in percenters' ability to get ' out, ;■ more; reasonably-priced productions. ; The sole reason for'gloom in the talent offices is the lower ■ level oi business. Otherwise it's felt that I the list of sponsor prospects is Beiiay Venuta femceeing KTTV's "Silent Partners" charade show at $25 per weekly appear- ance, indicative of the low talent scale . on - the Coast. Show, inci'* dentally, is- the third charades of- fering on Coast telestations, others being" "Pantomime Quiz," KTLA and "Headline Charade," KLAC I . ,Kay Christopher and Keith I Hetherineton inked as, leads for ! the "Fireside"' telepic series which Eclipse Productions will turn out. Joe Lowe took over as produc- tion coordinator for KLAC-TV . . . Hal Roach Jr. changed the name _of his telepic production unit to Hal Eugene Roach Productions to avoid confusion with Roach Senior's firm . . . Lee Green, Dick Columuus, re- -toliowear Meanwhile^ federal mediation and conciliation authorities had worked ' with both sides in eflfort to iron out differences. J. W. Woodruff, .Jr., manager of WRLB, Columbus, Ga., has represented his father during; negotiations, Schlesinger said. Duncan Quits WLWT Cincinnati, Jan. 11. J.'R. Duncan has resigned as di- rector of engineering for WLWT, ending a 10-year service stretch with Crosley's television division. He said his split with James D. Shouse, president, was over "dif- I ferences of 'opinion in handling I engineering problems that could I not be reconciled." I Duncan said he will take a va> I cation before making a new affilia- ! tion. * already tried out many of the skits 3,^?"*^,*''? as in recent years. | cunha,'jimy "Terry and Bill Tillisch to be used at Tamiment Charles Santord, who had been nnisiGai clivi-ctor ,for the Broadway revue,.. "Make Mine .Manhattan," will handle the same post on the Admiral show. Legit designer Frederick Fox is to design the scenery, with Paul DuPont super- vising the costumes. .lames Star buck will direct the choreography They believe that radio will still be big business and the prophecies of doom aren't warranted as yeti- TV Set Prices i Continued from page 27 . 7^- !turn out some 600.000 sets in 1949 Format will comprise a coinpleteiv ' >ts own^ Now that RCA has an- new show each week, centering swered the challenge, it's expected around a definite theme but sans that Philco will have to plan on a a formalized book. ; similar 16-inch job, which may re- Show will bp aired by both NBC downward that set prodtiction and-DuMont stations in the eight '^ure. cities whore the two webs eaeli; Sales Boost Seen have outlets. These include N. Y.,' Second fact is that, no matter Philadelphia. Baltimore • • ■ ■ .. . . ton, Boston. CI eve and Detroit. In addition aired siiiniltaneously in Shenec- through greater .set sales. Public's tady, Bull-ilo, St. Louis. Milwau- demand for cuts in current models kee.. Toledp, New Haven, Pitts- are expected to trim prices, which burgli and Richmond. Cities get- in turn will boost sales materially tins the show via film transcrip- If manufacturers can meet their tions whicli will follow by two self-imposed production quotas, it's weeks the live airing, include tiehoved the industry may well pro- formed Caravan Productions to lens commercials for tele . . . Nate Piatt, talent chief for WBKB, Chicago, and for Balaban & Katz stage presentations, due here next week . . Tom Milana and John Shnll, cameramen, went into busi- ness lensing repeats of video stanzas to be flown to San Fran- cisco for use on KPIX the follow- ing day. starting off with KFI-TV's "Hoffman Huddle" starring Tom Harmon, Deal involves restaging "Huddle" after the regular telecast 1 rather than picked up off the tube Chicago Swift Show (Lanny Ross) origin- other advertisiilg medium, there is ho substitute for experleiice." Web pointed but, in this respect, that many of tbe advertisers who with-; drew; temporarily' from vidieo for one ireascm or another "have either returned with blj^ger budgets, or are planning to return within the very near future." "2. Now*^ is the time to reseive valuable time franchises." Bro- chure states that the number of cream time periods when the full attention of an audience can be captured is far ](e>ss than in radio and; in additioTi, TV station faeili-1 ties are conMdetably fewer lhan ! radio. , •;•;,' ■ ;':;,■:?,;'., V "3. Advertising competition must be .met." Of the 21 largest U. S. advertisers whose products are ac- ceptable for sponsorship on TV^, 19 are already: Users of the new me- diuni; ; -In addition, jjiany advertis- ers are fioming in who have never used radio. . • . "4. TV set ownership i.s predom- inantly in middle and lower in- come groups." "5. Present TV riiaj-kets already account for 40.4% of annual IT, S. retail sales." "6, TV is a great medium fi^^ public relations." This can be ac- coniplisjied through , tieins with dealer associations, etc. Evening Hour Advantaire ■'7. High ratio of TV sets-in^^tise means steady advertising impact" According to C. E. Hooper, tele . g(5ts "about ipo% higher set usage *^V*''"^*U8 our Speiety to pettal ter "^H ^r^'ill" "la'fu^acturing-end . ates at the Morr^on'ToTel^'hele doirfadio*/' news-documentary technique ,.and, C.nca£;o ot the busine.-is takes, the broad-' J^"- 13 . . . Art Churvis, former ..o t u c ■ will be used on wli-.i is nrnbablv ition. it's to be ca.sting industry will benefit , exec with Churvis Adv.; Large number of vipwprc , »e used on wlial is pioDdOly Documentaries s Continued from page 21 a long documentary dealing with. American politics. Pete Lyon is doing the scripting and it will be written around the life of a single I Congressman. ■ I in the third documentary of the 'year, "The Cities of the World," i the problems of UN and UNESCO, in terms of an International Citi* zen, will be projected, in a bid Jp show that peoples of all nations can get along together. Exact format on this has not been set as yet,, ■ '■,■,-*:•' , ■ The documentary on penology will explore the wisdom of re- joining NBC's TV i^taff as assistant production director . . . Gorgeous Qeoree, West Coast wrestler, preenis on local screens via WENR- TV, Jan. 14 . . . Rauland Corp.. subsid of Zenith Radio, starts mass production of large screen metal lubes next month. number of viewers per I^ , ... . , apo^t„,, I the most ambitious hour produc- tion thus far attempted by llie web—that deaHijg with U, S.-Rus- sian relations. Werner Michel, head of the doGHinentarj^v: unit; will- pro^ftice;; the 'Series. 44 ADVERTISERS hove been selling over WOV for an averag* oi 9 yean each. Th«Y know that on WOV mUllSisthe Buy-Word Your WOV salesman will give you specifit market Information on each of 5 Audited Audiences. You toe can take the goeis out of buying. Wake Up New York 1280 Club Band Parade frairie Stars Italian language ntttrket 2,100,000 Individuals larger than St. Louis and Kansas City Combined mm Originators of WO¥ NEW YORK set TV." This, according to'the 'bro- chure, represents about 66%% more viewers per set than radio has hsteners per set. "9. Television delivers exception- ally high identification of advertis- er and product." CBS-Gult's "We, the People" show, when simulcast' draws a 44.2% radio sponsor iden- tification, as compared to TV's T2.3%. ■ "10. TV commercials are highly acceptable due to entertainment and interest valite." "11. TV, geperally, provides the lowest-cost method of actiial prod- uct demonstration today." Aver- age demonstration expense of a car is $4.12, as compared to the 1.6c for which a car can now be dern- ! onstrated over TV. "12. TV delivers greater sales Impact than any other advertising medium today." Since it combines two to four advertising media, "It stands to reason that television in moirt cases will produce a sales im- pact considerably greater than any other single medium." as witness TV's many success stories. ' WGAR'S SBX PROGRAM Glevelaiid, .fa' ! A six-week pi ogram sc >!>• education has been- ■ .1 WGAR in coopei' Social Proteclior ' , • . . Cleveland We"i,(T'. , u Titled •■' ■ . a . • Youth," thbj,-. .'i'.iii- - Mrs. AldarliM f^cis:'!!! Merridew, WC.XR pr. ioj:,-aii ving djsedw«<)un<-i-. ■■.■''.>ri il C P r,>i .'Titten by ■ Hb Reg in direc- "On an Island with You" , ,«U'IIK. C.AMKI' SHOW r,vtr> i'liiiui Ni(.'. !<..(« KM.r. Mgt.: LOU .^lAYTOH PUSLSCHV WRITER r-iSSTCStAL STAFFER ill iilin>.i"i iniiiliiitiliM" U (;nhlKM"l\ Mii/t |>r*»tl>o(Iitii wrltinU. 1 .int.11, I'ViMM'U'm'.'il 111 hrtol.. I"''**' ■•-If, Uwiilr... iiiUfiflNlnit flclllK. • <t<il»'i-< Uroiil.iT, SI Chn"" ., \Mi II. (11. S-WIH- TOP QUALITY StafF announcer and persanal|rr (fiik jackay l«okinf| for new ofilia- tion. All dtlaili in first i«n*r. Box 1*49, Varic»y. 154 W. 46»h St.. New York It. N. V.